The invention relates to a device for generating a vacuum for medical applications, in particular, for the vacuum therapy of wounds on a human or animal body, with a facility for generating a vacuum and a vessel, which is typically disposable after use, to receive body fluids, in particular wound exudates suctioned out of a wound, wherein the vessel can be detachably fastened to the device and wherein a connection for a suction tube leading to the body is provided, so that vacuum communication between the facility generating the vacuum, the vessel, and the suction tube leading to the body can be established, and with a holding facility for detachable fastening of the device on a horizontal or vertical or oblique strut or bar.
Devices for vacuum wound therapy have already been described several times, in particular by US 2004/0073151 A1, WO 2009/047524 A2, WO 2007/030599 A2 or EP 1 905 465 A1 and by the non-prepublished patent applications DE 10 2009 038 130.9 and DE 10 2009 038 131.7 of the assignee.
In such devices for the vacuum therapy of wounds, a vacuum-generating device communicates via a suction tube with the wound or the surroundings of the wound, wherein cover material that is impervious to air is provided to ensure air-tight sealing of the wound and the surroundings of the wound so that a vacuum can be established in the wound space and liquids can be suctioned out of the wound space into the vessel.
The term vacuum in connection with this invention refers to a lower air pressure than the ambient air pressure (atmospheric pressure), in particular inside the wound dressing. The cover material of a wound dressing for air-tight closure of a wound space must therefore be constituted such that it can withstand the established pressure difference so that the vacuum in the wound space can be produced in the first instance and then maintained. In vacuum therapy for wound treatment, the vacuum is quantitatively expressed as the pressure difference between the ambient air pressure and the air pressure applied beneath the cover material. In vacuum therapy, this pressure difference is typically no more than 250 mm Hg (mm of mercury) (1 mm Hg=1 Torr=133.322 Pa). This vacuum range not exceeding 250 mm Hg has proven advantageous for wound healing. A preferred vacuum range is between 10 and 150 mm Hg.
The vacuum applied to the wound using the device can, in typical vacuum therapy, either be kept essentially constant over time or it can vary over time, in particular, cyclically, which can be implemented using an appropriately constituted and programmed control device on the facility producing the vacuum, in particular, in dependence on further parameters.
To apply the vacuum and preferably also to suction away body fluids, a preferably flexible suction tube, for example, in the form of a drainage tube, is provided that communicates at one end through a port in the region of the wound cover material with the wound environment or the wound space and at the other end with the vessel stated above for receiving body fluids or with the facility producing the vacuum.
In addition to the vacuum therapy of wounds, other applications of the device described here are conceivable for providing a vacuum for medical applications, in particular, the removal by suction of any body fluids in medical incontinent care, the care of stoma patients, or for the removal by suction of wound exudates, possibly, using rinsing liquids, and also without the application of a vacuum over considerable periods of time.
WO 2008/036344 A1 has already proposed firmly clamping the device on a bar or strut of a patient bed by means of clamping or wing screws, wherein a clamping arm that can be swiveled through 90° is described to permit fastening to a vertical or horizontal strut of the patient bed. Simply hanging the device by means of a hook has also been previously disclosed.
The object of this invention is to provide a reliable and simple to implement a way of fastening the device.